CRAY Wanderers Football Club have unveiled plans for their new football stadium which they hope will see them move back to their home.

The Wands want to return the 150 year-old club to its original roots in the Crays and are applying to build a new stadium in Sandy Lane, St Pauls Cray.

Manager Ian Jenkins, who is in his 13th season in charge at the club, said: “We need to get back to where we originally came from to get back to our fans.

“There will be no stopping us once we have our own base.”

The 5,000 person capacity stadium is estimated to cost between five and six million pounds, which the club hopes to raise by building a hotel and up to 172 houses on the 27 acre site.

The club, which has been playing outside the Crays since 1972, currently play their first team matches at Bromley Football Club in Hayes Lane.

Club chairman Gary Hillman said: “We have been actively looking for more than 10 years for a site in the Cray area that we feel creates the right infrastructure to sustain a new ground.

“The site is already surrounded by sporting activities such as a ski slope, golf driving range and 18-hole course, bowls, as well as fishing lakes. We see it as an ideal opportunity to create a sporting village-type complex.

“We are hoping to get the backing of the Cray community for the proposed new stadium with our ‘Back the Bid’ campaign.

“Not only do we want to bring the club home, we want it to play a big part in the community.”

The plans will be on show on Saturday and Sunday between 10am and 2pm at the Bull Inn in Sandy Lane.

The club hopes to submit the plans to Bromley Council on February 9.

HISTORY OF THE CLUB

The Club, which was founded in 1860, is the oldest in London and second oldest in the world, just behind Sheffield F.C.

Their original pitch was in Star Lane in St Mary Cray, but they also played at the Fordcroft groud in Cray Avenue and in 1955 moved to a new ground in Grassmeade.

In 1973 the club moved out of the Crays into Oxford Road on the borders of Bexley, Footscray and Sidcup.

The club moved to its current location, a stadium shared with Bromley Football Club, in Hayes Lane in 1998.

Cray wanderers have been Kent League champions four times, most recently in 2004, and reached the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup in 2005-06.